Value's Journey: Thoughts on Sociality of Value

Abstract

Values are in interaction with all components of the social and cultural system. Religion has a special significance in transforming value into a firm belief. The relationship between religion and value has been among the subjects of human and cultural sciences for a long time in terms of their needs for each other. It has been challenging for sociology, whose roots go back to positivist thought, to consider and analyze concepts such as value and belief as a phenomenon. The notion of value has not been seen as a methodologically studyable phenomenon due to its changeable nature. The diversification of sociological thought, the acceptance of different methodological paradigms in sociology, and the shift of attention from object to subject, from phenomenon to actor in sociological observation have also changed the view on value. The concept of value has been discussed in detail in terms of dictionary meanings in different sciences and other concepts that the word may be related to, depending on its lexical meaning and origin. The theoretical foundations of social value, its sociological counterpart, the functions of value in society, and the functional aspect of religion and value with other social institutions have been examined. For values to be a subject of sociology, it is important that they are measurable. For this reason, quantitative studies carried out in different countries are included throughout the study. Value rankings and classifications in psychology, social psychology, sociology, and philosophy have been studied. In this way, it is aimed to make a concept known for its abstract and subjective aspects to be studied for sociology and to determine its boundaries. The study focuses on the possibility of a sociology independent of values. It has been questioned to what extent leading sociologists can avoid subjective evaluations. Although sociology is not a normative science like law and morality, the question of why it should examine values has also taken its place among the main problems of the study. For this reason, the importance of values in terms of their social functions has been pointed out. The question of what the place of values in social structure explanations at the macro and micro level is has been tried to be explained by referring to the ideas of theoretical sociologists such as Parsons, Weber, Durkheim, and Pareto. Again, the value theories of Rokeach and Schwartz, who are among the leading theorists, are reviewed. The study can be considered as an effort to read and evaluate the views of positivist, understanding, structuralist, and materialist sociologists who develop different perspectives on the phenomenon of value. The determination of the meaning and importance of the values that were ontologically and epistemically excluded in the founding years of modern sociology are among the results of the study.

Keywords

• sociology of religion
• religion
• social values
• value
• society